'Lax regulatory mechanism allowing teaching shops to flourish'

A "lax or corrupt" regulatory environment has led to a "disturbing proliferation" of ill- equipped private colleges under the patronage of influential people with money and little interest in education, an HRD Ministry panel has said and sought urgent steps to check such "teaching shops".
The panel in its recommendations on creating a New Education Policy (NEP) was also critical of a "non-transparent" financial management of these private higher education institutions, saying this would encourage "parallel economy operations".
The committee headed by former Cabinet Secretary T S R Subramanian said that the reality needs to be confronted that many private universities and colleges "flourish under the patronage of influential people backed by money power with little interest in education, taking advantage of a lax or corrupt regulatory environment."

The panel has said it needs to be seen that higher education institutions are proliferating but there is "neither a structured system nor adequate commitment" to provide quality teachers commensurate with the increasing demand for higher education.
It sought urgent measures to handle the "disturbing" proliferation of such privately-run "teaching shops" and "so-called non-profit institutions" which are ill-equipped and operate with unqualified staff.
"The present system encourages non-transparent financial management of private higher education institutions, indirectly supporting parallel economy operations. The system does not have any built-in levers to upgrade quality, keep a check on sub-standard institutions and curb exploitation of hapless students," the committee said in its report.

The HRD ministry had only this week announced new guidelines for Deemed Universities, many of which are private. The aim of the ministry was to reduce the red tapism, usher transparency and also make rules student-friendly.

In its report, the Subramanian panel also took note of the issue of faculty posts remaining vacant and observed that there is reluctance on the part of some states to fill posts on a regular basis with the aim of saving the outgo on salaries of full-time faculty.
It said that overdependence on ad-hoc and guest teachers militates against the quality of teaching and suggested that absence of regular faculty should become a negative indicator at the time of accreditation.

The panel recommended that a "manpower-needs study" must be undertaken every 5 years at the central and state levels to determine requirement for faculty positions for higher education.
"The scope for making appointments based upon subjectivity has to give way to rigorous merit-based selection, preferably through the Public Service Commission or an independent body set up for the purpose," the panel said.